127 Hours

127 Hours is a 2010 biographical adventure film produced, co-written and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco as real-life mountain climber Aron Ralston, who became trapped by a boulder in Robbers Roost, Utah, for more than five days in 2003 before amputating his arm with a dull knife. The film, based on Ralston's autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place, was written by Boyle and Simon Beaufoy and produced by Christian Colson, who previously teamed up for Slumdog Millionaire, and John Smithson. The film was well-received by critics and was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor (James Franco).
127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston’s remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crushes his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Canyonlands National Park of Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, abseil a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he is finally rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers (Clemence Poesy), family, and the two hikers (played by Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara) he met before his accident.

[edit] Authenticity

The scenes with the girls at the beginning of the film were altered to portray Ralston showing them a hidden pool, when really he just showed them some basic climbing moves. Despite these changes, with which he was initially uncomfortable, Ralston says the rest of the movie is "so factually accurate it is as close to a documentary as you can get and still be a drama."^[3]

[edit] Cast

• James Franco as Aron Ralston^[4]
• Amber Tamblyn as Megan McBride, one of two hikers Ralston met before the accident^[4]
• Kate Mara as Kristi Moore, one of two hikers Ralston met before the accident^[4]
• Clémence Poésy as Rana, Ralston's lover^[4]
• Lizzy Caplan as Sonja, Ralston's sister^[5]
• Treat Williams as Ralston's father^[4]
• Kate Burton as Ralston's mother^[4]

[edit] Production

Danny Boyle had been wanting to make a film about Ralston's ordeal for four years.^[6] Boyle wrote a treatment for the film and Simon Beaufoy wrote the screenplay.^[7] Boyle describes 127 Hours as "very much a British film," and as "an action movie with a guy who can't move."^[8] He also expressed an interest for a more intimate film than his previous film, Slumdog Millionaire (2008): "I remember thinking, I must do a film where I follow an actor the way [Darren Aronofsky] did with The Wrestler. So 127 Hours is my version of that."^[9]
News of the World reported in November 2009 that Cillian Murphy was Boyle's top choice to play Ralston.^[10] In January 2010, James Franco was cast as Ralston.^[11]
Boyle and Fox Searchlight announced plans to create 127 Hours in November 2009.^[12] Filming began in March 2010 in Utah.^[11] Boyle intended to shoot the first part of the film with no dialogue.^[6] By June 17, 2010, the film was in post-production.^[13]
The amputation scene was the handiwork of makeup effects artist Tony Gardner and his team at Alterian, Inc., with the help of medical professionals.^{[citation needed]} They strove to be medically accurate in every minute detail, as Danny Boyle shot the entire scene in one take (with multiple cameras) and every aspect of the scene needed to be functional as well as realistic.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Release

127 Hours was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2010, following its premiere at the 2010 Telluride Film Festival.^[14] The film was selected closed the 2010 London Film Festival on October 28, 2010.^[15] It was given a limited release in the United States on November 5, 2010.^[16] It was released in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2011 and in India on January 26, 2011.^[17][18]
During the screenings at Telluride Film Festival, two people required medical attention. At the first screening, an audience member suffered from light-headedness and was taken out of the screening on a gurney. During a subsequent screening, another viewer suffered a panic attack.^[19] Similar reactions were reported at the Toronto International Film Festival^[20] and a special screening hosted by Pixar and Lee Unkrich, director of Toy Story 3 (2010).^[21]

[edit] Reception

127 Hours met with critical acclaim, with much of the praise going to Franco's performance. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 94% of 169 professional critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 8.3 out of 10.^[22] Among Rotten Tomatoes' selected top critics, the film holds an overall approval rating of 94%, based on a sample of 173 reviews.^[23] The site's consensus is that "As gut-wrenching as it is inspirational, 127 Hours unites one of Danny Boyle's most beautifully exuberant directorial efforts with a terrific performance from James Franco."^[22] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, the film has a rating score of 82% based on 37 reviews.^[24] Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film "Four Stars" and said he believed Franco absolutely deserved an Oscar nomination for his flawless performance, as well as calling the film "one of the best of the decade." Roger Ebert awarded the film four out of four stars and said, "127 Hours is like an exercise in conquering the unfilmable."^[25] James Franco was awarded Best Actor by New York Film Critics Online.